They have an enormus amount of influence over people's perception. If you can't recognize that, I don't know what to tell you. They are not alone either. So the argument could made that HBO's presentation could have influenced tbis decision. However, I don't agree that the airing caused him to step down, but its possible it increased the pressure.

I think that's total nonsense, and HBO had 0.0% of the influence on his decision. Or perhaps even less than that. It is funny to think about some 85 year old guy in Italy even knowing what HBO is.